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tv   The Daily Rundown  MSNBC  April 22, 2013 6:00am-7:00am PDT

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alex was just saying, no seven-second delay. >> what did you learn? >> good news, come july 1st the u.s. economy is going to be 3% larger. bad news is nothing's changed other than the way we calculate the size of the u.s. economy. >> oh, my goodness. >> great. >> thanks for being here. you added a lot. mika, thank you so much. mika, you're going to try to make the jump? >> no. well, maybe. we'll see. >> maybe the surface. we'll see. >> i like the surface. using it to cover myself. >> a.j., phone home. it's way too early, what time is it, mike? >> it's time for "morning joe." right now other than a.j. clementi's first day on the job, the most important thing is it's time for chuck todd. >> now. the surviving boston bombing suspect starts to answer investigators' questions. legal experts and lawmakers debate his rights. this morning we're talk to the top lawyer at the acclu. congressman peter king who says the suspect should be treated like an enemy combatant. back in washington senator
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marco rubio tries to steer his party to an immigration deal. some veteran republicans raise new questions and an up and comer could end up being a roadblock the size of texas. in the wake of this immense failure to move forward on gun regulations new jersey governor chris christie wants to make some of the toughest state gun laws in the country even tougher. good morning from fenway park! it's monday, april 22nd, 2013! now here's "the daily rundown" with chuck todd! boston strong! woo! >> what a great way to begin what hopefully is a better week for everybody thanks to the baby giraffes, an improv group from boston. those good morning videos, you could be tomorrow's winner. let's get to my first reads of the morning.
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let's run through everything we've learned since friday night's arrest. federal prosecutors may file terrorism charges today against dzhokhar tsarnaev, the 19-year-old man accused of the boston marathon bombings. tsarnaev is under guard in serious but stable condition at a boston hospital with a gunshot wound to the neck. some investigators believe that wound may be the result of a suicide attempt before his arrest. he's now being questioned, but only for brief periods because of his medical condition and is responding mostly in writing because of the injury. investigators have been trying to piece together the events that led to the standoff between tsarnaev and police friday night after he was discovered by a watertown resident in a boat kept in his backyard. video from police helicopters show how he was arrested. an armored vehicle with a robotic arm lifted a tarp covering the boat. agents threw flash bang grenades to make sure there were no explosives. moments later, he was taken into
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custody. the rivere police department just released this picture of the police chief clearing the boat moments after he was apprehe apprehended. this morning boston police commissioner ed davis was very reluctant to speak about the investigation but said he believes the two suspects did act alone. >> we're satisfied that the two actors here, two people committing the damage, have either been arrested or killed. and the people of the city of boston can rest comfortably at this point in time. >> investigators are also searching the brothers' background for a motive. the tsarnaev brothers whose family is from chechnya were raised in the u.s. but in recent years the older brother, tamerlan's, islamic faith had become stricter. he'd stopped smoking and drinking and given up boxing. his uncle said he noticed those changes several years ago and spoke to a family friend. >> last time i spoke with tamerlan, 2009, and i was shocked when i heard his words. his phrases. it wasn't devotion.
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it was something as it's called been radicalized. he said there is someone who brainwashed him, some newly convert to islam. >> 2011 the russian government did ask the fbi to investigate tamerlan. the fbi says it checked data bases, interviewed tamerlan and family members but, quote, did not find any terrorism activity, domestic or foreign. on sunday some lawmakers said the fbi may have dropped the ball. >> anwr alaki. now this case with the older brother. this is at least the fifth case i'm aware of where the fbi has failed to stop someone who ultimately became a terrorist murderer. >> then in 2012 camm etamerlan traveled to dagestan where his mother was from and both parents live now. he stayed there for six months. within a month of his return in august 2012, he set up this youtube account full of islamic
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postings with a very radical bend. >> you know he had some radicalization before he left. you know that he didn't probably travel on his own name or some variation of his own name. and when he comes back, he has a renewed interest in that radicalization belief. >> the suspect parents now estranged and reached in dagestan over the weekend claim their children have been set up. investigators are also putting together a timeline of what the brothers did between the bombings on monday and their first contact with police in that shootout on thursday night. betoncourt, a sophomore at the university of massachusetts at dartmouth where the younger tsarnaev was enrolled told nbc's jeff rossen that dzhokhar actually discussed the bombings at the gym the day after they took place. >> i talked to him about normal things going on in the day. i talked to him about how it was crazy we had a bombing in boston.
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>> you said that to him, talked about the bombing? >> yeah. he said it's really sad it's happening, it's a sad thing. it happens around the world, people here aren't used to it. >> reporter: he said it's sad? >> he said it's sad. looked me straight in the eye and said that. >> officials tell nbc federal charges will include a description of a still unreleased fbi video of the suspect putting his back pac down at the site of the second bombing and then acting very differently from those around him when the first bomb went off. >> this suspect took the backpack off, put it down. did not react when the first explosion went off. and then moved away from the backpack in time for the second explosion. >> now, bringing charges in federal court would end the contentious debate that's played out over the last 48 hours about how to handle the case. four republican members of congress demanded saturday tsarnaev who is a u.s. citizen be treated as an enemy combatant
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during questioning. democrats argued sunday there would be no legal basis for that kind of treatment. >> this man in my view should be designated as a potential enemy combatant and we should be allowed to question him for intelligence gathering purposes to find out about future attacks and terrorist organizations that may exist that he has knowledge of. >> i do not believe under the military commission law that he is eligible for that. it would be unconstitutional to do that. i really regret all of this discussion which is creating a conflict that need not be there. the administration is ready for this. >> nbc's justice correspondent pete williams joins me now with the latest. let's talk about specifically the charges, miranda rights, the public safety exemption, where are we right now on that issue? >> well, the normal rule is that when someone's irsed, they're advised of their rights. you have the right to remain silent. anything you say can be used against you. you have the right to a lawyer. if you can't afford one it will be provided, that sort of thing.
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if police don't give that warning then they cannot use any statements of the defendant in court. the exception to that is called the public safety exception. it's been extended by judges to terrorism cases. and the idea is that if you need information quickly to preserve public safety, you can ask those questions and still use the responses in court. but that public safety exception rule is limited. it only applies for several hours after fill in the blank. we assume after questioning starts rather than after arrest. probably no more than a day, day and a half. >> where do you come up with that? pete, let me interrupt you there. who has come up with what is the time? is it just, you know it when you see it? >> in terms of the time limit? >> yes. >> you know, it's -- because this is a judge made rule, there is -- there is no federal rule on how long it lasts. it certainly lasts for a matter of hours because it's been used
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before in the u mar abdulmutallab case, the underwear bomber case on christmas day. how long it lasts, maybe 36, maybe 48, kind of open ended. not clear. during that time you can only ask about questions like were there other plotters out there? are there other explosives that we need to be worried about? so the subject that you can ask about is limited. after that they will give the miranda warning. he will be tried in civilian court. that's quite clear. because, number one, he legally cannot be tried in a military t tribunal. that was legally answered in the national defense authorize act of 2012 which specifically bars trying american citizens in military tribunals. >> now, pete, there is -- there is some doubt that we will have the charges made officially released today. why? >> i don't know the exact why. we'll know here a little while. we expected them saturday. we expected them sunday.
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we'll see whether we get them today. there's still some issues they're trying to resolve here. and i just don't know specifically what they are. at first i thought it was merely a drafting issue. but i think it's clearly beyond that. i don't know if it's a legal question. i don't know if it's an evidentiary issue of what they're trying to put into the complaint. we'll just have to wait and see. >> and one more piece of information that's been floating around. his mother has claimed the fbi made contact with one or both of the tsarnaev brothers before thursday night. any truth to this? >> everybody i've talked to, including the fbi, says none whatsoever. >> so these are just his mother making claims that -- unsubstantiated at best? >> it's certainly -- it's simply and solely his mother making that claim. i've heard no one else say there's any credibility to that. >> pete williams on the beat for us. pete, thank you, sir. >> you bet. so before the manhunt even ended on friday night, we saw a
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bizarre thing happen. opponents of immigration reform began to use what happened in boston as an excuse to delay or stop efforts at immigration reform. at the first hearing on immigration legislation friday, in fact, the top republican on the judiciary committee, chuck grassley, said the terrorist bombing should give senators pause about rushing the debate. >> given the events of this week, it's important for us to understand the gaps and loopholes in our immigration system. how do we ensure that people who wish to do us harm are not eligible for benefits under the immigration laws, including this new bill before us? >> on sunday indiana senator dan coats, not known as an aggressive opponent of immigration reform, also said legislation should be pushed back until more about the bombers is known. >> u usually end up with bad policy if you do it in an emotional way or an emotional reaction. and we saw some things post-9/11 that were enacted that if we had
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had a little more rational time to think this through, perhaps we wouldn't have had some of the pushback on it. >> in the senate there are probably about 10 to 15 republican senators who are opposed to immigration reform no matter what. there are another 15 to 20 gop senators who i would call skittish about how the base views the immigration debate. these are the senators that you'd expect florida's marco rubio to be able to keep in line or who he hopes to get on board. they are watching the grassroots and likely to be the first to flee if the bill becomes remotely controversial with base conservatives. given that potential skittishness within the gop, senators mccain, graham and rubio all went out of their way on friday before dzhokhar tsarnaev was even captured to engage in this debate that boston shouldn't jeopardyize immigration reform. again on sunday, the bill's sponsors tried to argue that what happened in boston proves the status quo on immigration is what is unacceptable. >> the 19 hijackers were all students who overstayed their
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visas. and the system didn't capture that. we're going to fix that. >> certainly keeping the status quo is not a very good argument given what happened. there are some, some on the hard right, some otherwise, who oppose our immigration bill from the get-go. they're using this as an excuse. we are not going to let them do that. >> there may be a danger here for gop senators who might be waivering on immigration reform. you're pursuing reform because you realize your party can't afford to lose latino voters by 44 percentage points. at the same time you're invoking two men who are already in the country legally and aren't latino. what message does that send to latino voters? do latino voters get the finger pointed to them because of a terrorist attack? seems a horrible message to send for the gop. grand scheme of things, this will not derail immigration. it could jeopardyize the chance of the bill getting more than 75 votes in the senate. that could have an impact how this gets through the house. next hearing on immigration will be held just about an hour from now. up next, rights and wrongs. we're going to hear from both
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sides of this debate on how to treat the living boston bombing suspect. should he be read his miranda rights today? should he be declared an enemy combatant? top lawyer for the aclu and congressman peter king will both weigh in on this matter. that's all coming up. first, a look ahead at today's politics planner. the business of washington moves on. the president today's big public event is the white house science fair. you're watching "the daily rundown" only on msnbc. [ male announcer ] let's say you pay your guy around 2% to manage your money. that's not much, you think. except it's 2% every year. go to e-trade and find out how much our advice and guidance costs. spoiler alert: it's low. it's guidance on your terms, not ours. e-trade. less for us. more for you. it's guidance on your terms, not ours. you know it even after all these years. but your erectile dysfunction - you know,that could be a question of blood flow. cialis tadalafil for daily use helps you be ready anytime the moment's right.
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we don't know if there's other devices. we don't know if there's other people. i think mirandizing him up front would be a horrible idea. it's my understanding that's not
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going to happen. i've had good conversations with the fbi. they're going to do their due diligence on the public safety portion. here's where the problem is. they're getting pressure from outside groups to actually do -- to do the mirandizing which is why we ought to let the fbi do their work. >> that was republican congressman mike rogers. he's head of the intelligence committee on the house side. he made the point that the administration will not mirandize the 19-year-old bombing suspect, at least not yet. first he's being questioned by a special interatirogation team o specific set of issues. anthony romero, executive director of the aclu. welcome to the show. >> hello, chuck. >> i want to start with this issue of miranda rights. you guys put out a release immediately saying there shouldn't even be the public safety exemption in this case. that we've already waited too long in reading him his rights. why is that? >> we recognize the importance of the public safety exemption. it's a limited one.
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it's a narrow one. it's one that's only used when there's an imminent threat for continued safety to the public. the minute you begin to expand it, the minute you drag that on longer and don't read the defendant their miranda rights, you jeopardize the prosecution. it's unconstitutional. it's illegal. it's also going to make it much harder if you take so long to read him his miranda rights about whether or not you can get the prosecution you ultimately want. in this case we hear from all press reports that the threats have been lifted. that there are no others who are working with the two brothers. and if we read all the newspapers and we hear the boston police chief in his statement this morning that he thinks there's no further threat, then we should read him his miranda rights and get on with this. >> it seems we have two issues here that we have to deal with. one is the suspect's health. and how much has he been able to talk and they haven't been able to question him. >> sure. >> are you okay simply because he hasn't been able to be asked a number of questions, for instance, about what maybe his brother did in russia in that
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six-month period, which is something investigators still would like to know, and you could make an argument that qualifies under the large umbrella of public safety exemption. >> look, the public safety exemption should be about are there other imminent threats to the public right now. the public safety exemption should not be used to build the case against the defendant. the question is about whether -- are there other bombs? are there other individuals who are working in collusion with them? are there other plans for attacks in boston or new york or elsewhere? once you reach all those threshold questions, which we hear from law enforcement this morning that there is no imminent threat, hopefully they've been able to access his e-mails, twitter accounts, track his comings and goings. who is he in touch with. once they can satisfy the fact that we're not at harm, we're not at risk anymore as a public, they need to read him his miranda rights and treat him like a criminal defendant. >> i want to go back to this issue of whether there was any training or anything that was done for the older brother while he was overseas in russia.
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does that not qualify to you as part of the public safety exemption. >> the public safety exemption has been increasingly expanded over the last several years. one of the challenges the fbi is going to have they've expanded it so far it may be hard to hold it up in court. if the questiontrained? who helped train you, who helped fund you? it doesn't go to the question of the imminent threat of public safety but goes to the broader case of the individual, then the fbi might find itself in trouble in court. rightly so. the fourth amendment rights and the fifth amendment rights of defendants are critically important. they're part of american values. and it's shameful, frankly, to hear members of the congress, the senate, saying an american citizen who committed this crime, allegedly committed this crime on american soil, is not entitled to the constitutional protections. it's breathtaking, frankly. >> would this -- would the aclu's views on this be different if he were not an
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american citizen, if he were a legal resident? >> the fourth amendment, fifth amendment rights apply to all persons. obviously if you're working in collusion with al qaeda or other broader networks of individuals, then there's a different way of treating it as an enemy combatant. but for an american citizen it's really straightforward. for this case in particular where we know now that the other brother is dead, where there don't seem to be any indications of working with other individuals or groups, we have to make sure that there are no further threats. read him his miranda rights and let the criminal justice work. that's what we do in america. >> you think this needs to happen by the end of today at this point? >> once the fbi is able to ascertain whether or not there are continued threats to public safety, they should not expand further public safety exemptions. to do so is going to get their nick nice
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knickers in a twist. look at the 9/11 defendants. we tortured them, held them in secret prisons. we still have not prosecuted the alleged master minds of the 9/11 attacks. if boston wants and all of america wants justy, the best way is to let the criminal justice system kick up and work. to make it up as we go along is foolhardy, unconstitutional, and frankly really un-american. >> anthony romero, executive director for the aclu. thank you for coming on the show this morning, sharing your views. appreciate it. >> thank you. we're expecting to get an update, by the way, any minute now on the conditions of some of the boston bombing victims who are still in the hospital. plus, how should the federal government try terror suspects even if they're a u.s. citizen? congressman peter king will offer an alternative view from what you just heard. today's trivia question, how many vice presidents also represented massachusetts in the u.s. senate? first person to tweet me the correct answer to @chucktodd and @dailyrundown gets the on-air shout out. answer coming up after this. zap technology.
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handful of republicans are aggressively pushing for dzhokhar tsarnaev to be treated as an enemy combatant who may hold a key to a treasure-trove of intelligence. statement over the weekend says, quote, we do not want this suspect to remain silent, suggesting he may stop talking if read his miranda rights. it was signed by four republican senators, graham, mccain, ayachayo ayotte. congressman peter king joins me now. congressman king, good morning to you. >> good morning, chuck. >> let me start with any information overnight that you can share with us this morning. anything you've been briefed on including how much -- how communicative is the suspect? >> really all i'm getting is the same reports that you are. that he apparently has been answering some questions in writing. that's really all i know. and i wonder how effective that
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would be at this stage of the interrogation. in any event, that's really all i've heard. >> let's start with this debate about whether he should get miranda rights. you don't want to see him get miranda rights at all in this stage. but two other terror suspects, high profile terror suspects, taken in the last five years, abdulmutallab, the underwear bomber and times square bomber, both talked after they were read their miranda rights. so is this really as big of an issue as you and others are making it? >> yes, it is. because, first of all, you're depending on whether or not they want to testify. you're giving them the option as to whether or not they want to cooperate. i don't believe they should have that option. with abdulmutallab, the investigation or the interrogation to not go on that long. as far as shahzad, there's no doubt, shahzad, once he started talking he didn't stop. but i don't want to give this
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younger brother, a terrorist, i don't want to give him the option to decide whether or not he's going to cooperate or not cooperate. i think that by declaring him an enemy combatant, there would be virtue at least for 30 days of unlimited interrogation. not for the purpose of a conviction. he's going to be convicted one way or the other. by the way, let me make it clear. we're not talking about a military commission. once the interrogation is over he would end up being tried in the civilian court. this is solely for the purpose of interrogation to find intelligence, to get the intelligence that i believe we need. >> why isn't the public safety exemption enough? that's the whole point of this. >> that would be limited -- yeah. because that would be limited to approximately 48 hours. it's a much more limited in scope. also if i could just add one other thing. supreme court has said that an american citizen can be declared an enemy combatant. there's nothing to prevent it. in fact, in world war ii a nazi saboteur on long island where i lived was an american citizen,
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was captured and killed in a matter of weeks, executed in a matter of week. that was held to be legal. an american citizen can be be an enemy combatant as john walker lind in afghanistan. >> it tid happen on american soil. a lot of other cases have been when it hasn't happened on american soil. doesn't that change things? he's on american soil and he's a u.s. citizen. >> to me the issue is where is the battlefield. al qaeda and an islamic jihadist extended the battlefield to the united states. in this war we're in, that's what makes it unique and different. is that the battlefield has extended to the united states. therefore, to me, a soldier in that war or an enemy combatant in that war is, in fact, an enemy combatant, not just an ordinary criminal if he's captured here, even if he's captured here in the united states. again i want to emphasize he would be getting a civilian trial and none of the evidence that's brought out in this interrogation could be used against him. it's solely for the purpose of
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intelligence. >> this issue of radicalization in the islamic community, does this mean anybody with radical views should be viewed as an enemy combatant as a threat? because there seems to be a fine line here. so he got radicalized. the brother got radicalized. but if there's no connection to some sort of organized terrorist organization, do you treat them as an enemy combatant and do you worry that then suddenly we're going to treat any potential radical, somebody who's got radical views, as an enemy combatant? is that the direction we're headed here? >> no. there would actually have to be an overt act. there would have to be what i would consider an act of war before a person can be declared an enemy combatant. just the fact a person uses or es spou espouses them is not enough to become an enemy combatant. you combine an attack like this with radical views and chechnya,
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which we don't know the ramifications of yet, the russian government talking about it several years ago as being a potential terrorist. the fact he has been identified with radical websites. the fact he obviously has become a committed jihadist, that to me is enough at this stage to have him declared an enemy combatant. at the end of 30 days he has the right to go to court under writ of habeas corpus to say he should not be held as enemy combatant. this is not unlimit pd p the dpovt doesn. the government doesn't have the right to hold him forever. >> you have been critical -- potentially critical of the fbi in this respect. they had interviewed tamerlan, the older brother, at one point in 2011 and determined that he was not a threat. determined that he did not have -- wasn't about to commit any terrorist acts. do you believe they did drop the ball here? can you -- somebody gets radicalized. can you be predisposed into
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thinking they may commit terrorist acts? >> let me just say the opposite. i have tremendous regard for the fbi. tremendous regard for director mueller. in this case where they were given information, whatever we think of the russians, they have a very good intelligence service. they gave us information back in 2010, 2011. the fbi apaurntly conducted some investigation. they decided that he was not any type of threat. after that he goes to russia. he spends six months there. i'm not aware -- youtube sermons of radical imams. apparently his conduct in the community became more radical. he was actually thrown out of his mosque because of his activities. and i just think somewhere along the line it's fair to say why didn't the fbi follow up on that? you combine the first interrogation, the first examination, plus the subsequent acts. also, this is the fifth case i'm aware of where a person was brought to the attention of the fbi going back to anwr al alaki.
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major hasan is obviously another one. the fbi was investigating. also out in chicago the mumbai massacre. the fbi examined them and felt they were no threat and they went on to carry out terrorist murders. >> there's a fine line between worrying about whether somebody might carry out terrorism or not, particularly if they're american citizens, they might hold radical views. but, you know, we can't start arresting people or detaining them because we think they some day might commit terror acts if we have no evidence on it, right? >> no. for instance, in the case of carlos bledsoe, he was trained in yemen by al qaeda in the arabian peninsula. he came back here. the fbi was watching him, monitoring him for a while. he went and killed the arkansas -- the army recruiter in little rock, arkansas. you have headley. the fbi was given information on. turned out he was plotting the mumbai attack. when somebody is brought to your
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attention, you investigate him, find nothing, he ends up committing murders. did you miss something in the investigation? i'm not trying to be a monday morning quarterback. certainly in the bledsoe case i've had concerns for a number of years. >> peter king, republican from new york. thank you, sir, for coming on the show and sharing your views. >> thank you, chuck. up next, governor chris christie takes on guns and background checks. the country is starting to feel the effects of the sequester. you're watching "the lady rundown" only on msnbc. the humble back seat. we believe it can be the most valuable real estate on earth. ♪
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on my radar this morning, a lot more going on. on unfolding situation in eastern afghanistan where the taliban claims to have captured an afghan pilot and four nationals from a transport helicopter forced to make an emergency landing because of an equipment malfunction last night. the private russian made m-18 helicopter like the one seen here was heading to kabul from a
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nato base carrying food and other items. according to reuters, a taliban spokesman said in an e-mailed statement that the muja hadin immediately surrounded the chopper, detained the foreigners aboard and completely destroyed the helicopter by setting it alight. if you plan on flying this week, apparently this will be the week you have to prepare for long lines. government budget cuts that kicked in last month are forcing the faa and other agencies to cut some spending. f furloughs kicked in yesterday. the agency will furlough some 15,000 air traffic controllers. because of the cuts airports say passengers should expect increased delays. the length of the delays will vary depending on the schedule and situation at each specific airport. employees at the epa, office of management and budget, also face furloughs starting this week.
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residents and investigators continue their search today through the destruction in west, texas, to try to figure out what caused the fertilizer plant there to explode. investigators say they found the origin of the explosion, but they still don't know what caused the initial fire that led to the blast last wednesday. fertilizer company is working closely with authorities to aid the investigation. the death toll from the blast remains at 14. a public memorial for first responders will take place in the town later this week. by the way, all the presidents, ex and otherwise will be in dallas. don't be surprised if there's some movement from there over to west, texas. debbie dingle, prominent -- says she will not run for michigan's open senate seat. she said she took a long hard look at running for the senate but she thinks democrats need to unite behind one candidate. concluding quote, now is not the time for her to run. that one candidate is a congressman named gary peters. new jersey governor chris christie has announced a plan to strengthen existing new jersey
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gun law. christie's plan calling for expanding government funded mental health treatment and making it harder for kids to rent and buy violent video games. he's also trying to impose criminal penalties when it comes to selling firearms to convicted criminals. a ban on the sale of 50 caliber semiautomatic sniper rifles. new jersey's existing gun laws are already among the strictest in the nation. by the way, christie's move is a reminder he's still running for re-election, not for 2016 yet. as we wait for formal charges to be brought against the 19-year-old marathon bombing suspect federal and state authorities are trying to determine what led up to last monday's attack and what red flags might have been missed. for more on that joined by nbc's national investigative correspondent michael isikoff. it seems to me the unanswered question everybody would like to know of, number one, where did these guys test? nobody believes this was the first time they did these bombs on monday. that they must have tested them somewhere. the second, what was tamerlan, the older brother, doing in russia for six months? >> reporter: exactly. there's so many unanswered
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questions here. but let's start with the -- that russian report to the fbi in 2011 asking them to investigate tamerlan. what sparked that -- the russian request? what information do they have? the fbi says that the russians didn't provide any backup. you look at their statement. they said they asked them to investigate him as a follower of radical islam with possible connections to underground groups. well, what underground groups were they? and were the russians able to share any of that information with the fbi? the fbi says no. they went, they questioned tamerlan. they questioned family members. they looked through data bases. they didn't find anything. but you have that, you know, big unanswered question. what was the first red flag that the russians raised? then, secondly, you take a look at that trip to russia. where tamerlan goes for six months. he flies to moscow. but then, according to his father, he visits chechnya and dagestan. now, who did he visit in chechnya?
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who did he visit in dagestan? does it have any relationship to these unspecified underground groups that the russians referred to in their original request to the fbi? third, you come back to the united states. by this point he clearly seems to be thoroughly radicalized. he sets up that youtube account filled with jihadjihadi videos. we have reports from radical tendencies even from people within his own mosque. who was he in contact with in the boston area? i think those are the biggest questions now facing investigators and people looking at how the fbi handled this case. >> michael isikoff, i got to leave it there. you're right. we got to figure out did the kgb not tell our guys or russian intelligence not tell our guys everything that they knew at the time? and will they tell us now? anyway, michael, thank you very much. gaggle will be here next. running a little bit late. first white house soup of the day. riballita. sounds good. we'll be right back. ♪
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green is universal. daily flashback. this day in 1970 the very first observance of earth day. millions of americans participated in protests and rallies around the country. you can celebrate earth day today. visit greenisuniversal.com to learn more about earth week and for tips ongoing green. as the beatles once sang, you say it's your earth day, it's my earth day, too. members of the gang of eight say opponents shouldn't use the bombings as an excuse to do nothing. >> if they have a reason, a suggestion as to how to change it based on what happened in boston, we'll certainly be open to it. but we're not going to let them use what happened in boston as an excuse, because our law toughens things up. >> armesh is here. senator for american progress president. and if it's monday, "the
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washington post," dan balz. welcome all. armesh, i'm going to start with you. we divide them in three camps when it comes to immigration. they're there. the rubio camp. there's 15 to 20 that aren't fwoi going to be there. then this middle skittish ground. people like maybe dan coats, midwest republicans who maybe any little thing could make them opposed. is that what this is about? >> the national security arguments on both sides of the immigration debate, they were made in 2006 and 2007 the last time this was up. i don't think they actually changed anybody's minds. i don't think they're going to this time, either. i think this is the bright shiny object for the debate right now. >> a total red herring? >> not a total red herring. any time you get something like this people say let's look at what are the implications. i think you may be right that it's not going to have any significant effect. there are clearly some republicans who want to slow this down. and will use any opportunity to
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do that. >> what was amazing on friday before we even arrested this man, you could see graham and rubio were almost panicking. like, oh, my god, where is this conversation headed? >> i think you saw they're holding together. there's a lot of republican interest in passing this bill at the end of the day. you know, that's why this bill is likely to pass. because republicans want to pass an immigration bill. there might be consternation, but the politics aren't going to change. >> lindsey graham is doing a whole bunch of talk radio this morning. it's clear to me, we know why they probably booked all these interviews. because they're worried that this is where the immigration issue could percolate where all of the sudden the connection to boston happens. >> i think it also shows that compared to the last time around in '06 and '07 the republicans who were for this type of legislation are a lot more active in trying to engage with the conservative critics. >> dan, that does seem to be a huge difference before, they would lament maybe to you in interviews. but they wouldn't actively try
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to fix this. >> yeah. you know, they're pushing forward in a way they weren't before. they're much more confident about the reasons why they're doing this. and they're -- they feel much less defensive about it when they're being criticized by their own people. >> at the press conference amongst the most eloquent were marco rubio. the marco rubio. >> you were there. richard. this was the most fascinating -- >> it's a definition of kumbaya. >> it got those many votes. stick around. we'll talk about the issue having to do with boston directly enemy combatants and those things. trivia time. how many vice presidents also represented massachusetts in the u.s. senate? dan, did you get this answer? >> i didn't hear the question. >> there you go. thanks for listening. it's four. johned aed it will be five when someone
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>> this is our city. stay strong. thank you. ♪ sweet caroline ♪ so good so good so good >> can i just say, thank god for dvr. i was watching it and did david ortiz say that. you rewind. massachusetts governor deval
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patrick will go to krystle campbell's funeral this morning. she was killed monday in the marathon bombings. i think it's not going to be an issue in 48 hours. maybe i'm wrong. miranda rights versus enemy combatant versus public safety exception. what's your sense? >> i'm from boston. i think there's no town or place that has more of a history of our founding and a belief in the constitution. i think the idea that we're going to twist ourselves in a pretzel around this enemy combatant, i don't think people support that in massachusetts or in boston and i don't think people will eventually because what shows that we're ready to deal with these issues, that we're a mature country is that we protect our rights even when they are hard to do not just when they are easy. >> could be a fascinating debate inside the republican party. rand paul versus lindsey graham. >> it's interesting that the entire debate is being conducted with representation in the republican party. that wasn't the case ten years ago. >> this is a much different
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republican party and the feelings is because of what was done ten years ago that made the libertarian wing of the entire country libertarian ideology pop up again. >> we're in a different place than we were ten years ago when an event like this happens. >> i would like to shamelessly plug my husband's show. he's having his fourth solo show in new york. artist. it's on 21st street. check it out. >> google map it now. >> i want to put in a plug for the czech republic which is not, repeat not chechnya. >> shameless plug for old mainstream media last week led by "the boston globe." >> and my friend, pete williams. we'll see you back here tomorrow morning. coming up next, chris jansing. bye-bye.
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>> i'm meteorologist bill karins. major flooding on the illinois river and also the mississippi river and another spring storm heading for that region. thankfully the rain will be lighter with this one than the last storm and shouldn't cause additional problems. rain and snow will move through the central plains today and tomorrow including some of the big airports like kansas city and chicago. very logical thinker. (laughs) i'm telling you right now, the girl back at home would absolutely not have taken a zip line in the jungle. (screams) i'm really glad that girl stayed at home. vo: expedia helps 30 million travelers a month find what they're looking for. one traveler at a time. expedia. find yours.
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